Category: 1960s

Our Next Arts Workshop: The Staple Singers, Don Cornelius & Frankie Knuckles

6/26/2014

Friday, June 27 (4:30-5:30, 5:45-7:00 p.m.)

Mozart Park Fieldhouse
2036 N. Avers Ave.
Chicago, IL 60647

all ages, free & open to the public

You're invited to come to our next "Chicago Heroes & Arts Journeys" workshop, when we focus on the lives and legacies of these musical legends -- The Staple Singers, Don Cornelius, and Frankie Knuckles. During this workshop we will:

Listen to and talk about music created, produced, and presented by The Staple Singers, Don Cornelius, and Frankie Knuckles. We will also watch a few short videos that involve those music icons.
Talk about the some of the cultural and political dynamics that pertain to their work (e.g. the Civil Rights movement, elements of Chicago's cultural landscape)
Create visual art and creative writings inspired by those American originals.

These arts workshops are free and open to the public, and all ages welcomed. Participants are invited to bring writing utensils and paper, although supplies will be provided if needed. Sometimes we play music and explore other art forms, so if you have a musical instrument that you'd like to bring, or if you have art supplies (e.g. colored pencils, pastels, etc.) you can bring those. The fieldhouse has an upright piano that we have using during workshops as well.

Location: Mozart Park is in Chicago's Logan Square neighborhood. It's on the north side of Armitage Ave. -- several blocks east of Pulaski Rd., just south of Dickens and Shakespeare Streets. Our workshop series happens in the room to the left of fieldhouse lobby; some workshop sessions may happen outside in the park, weather permitting.

Transportation & parking: Mozart Park can be reached by public transportation (such as the #73 Armitage Ave. bus, and not far from the Logan Square and Western Ave. stations on the CTA's blue line. Mozart Park has a parking lot on Armitage, east of Avers.

Registering for Chicago Heroes & Arts Journeys: You can register for this workshop series at the Chicago Park District website.

Additional info: You can contact us by clicking here (if you have questions about this workshop or to RSVP). Click here to find out more about the Chicago Heroes & Arts Journeys workshop series.

Links:

Carl Sandburg-Inspired Arts Workshop at Mozart Park

5/19/2014

You're invited to come to our next Chicago Heroes & Arts Adventures workshop --

Monday, May 19 (6:00-7:15, 7:30-8:30 p.m.)

Mozart Park Fieldhouse
2036 N. Avers Ave.
Chicago, IL 60647

all ages, free & open to the public

Come discover, discuss & debate some of the origins of Objectivst poetics during this session, when Matthias Regan reads from his edited volume of Sandburg’s poetry and prose in the International Socialist Review. Here’s all the details:

“That’s when Sandburg was a Niceberg,” writes Edward Dorn in Book IV of Gunslinger. He’s thinking of the radical Carl Sandburg – the poetic brawler who changed the shape of poetry and politics simultaneously in the early years of modernism.

During the Chicago Renaissance, Sandburg was one of the most important innovators in English language poetry. His Chicago Poems (1916) drew on contemporary slang and Native American chants to create free verse poems that spoke to working-class people. He wrote poetry against the robber barons, the war profiteers and the false prophets of Christian morality. Given the popularity of his verse, it’s not surprising that academics and the popular press have “red-washed” Sandburg, portraying him as a bland sentimentalist by excising his early years as a Socialist organizer and muck-raking journalist.

Matthias Regan will read from his edited volume of Sandburg’s writings in the International Socialist Review – the radical journal published by Charles H. Kerr Press in which he published is first and best poems. Using a variety of pseudonyms, Sandburg wrote powerful news stories on union strikes, railroad regulation, the Eastland disaster and “Preparadness Parades.”

Location: Mozart Park is in Chicago's Logan Square neighborhood. It's on the north side of Armitage Ave. -- several blocks east of Pulaski Rd., just south of Dickens and Shakespeare Streets. Our workshop series happens in the room to the left of fieldhouse lobby; some workshop sessions may happen outside in the park, weather permitting.

Transportation & parking: Mozart Park can be reached by public transportation (such as the #73 Armitage Ave. bus, and not far from the Logan Square and Western Ave. stations on the CTA's blue line. Mozart Park has a parking lot on Armitage, east of Avers.

Registering for Chicago Heroes & Arts Journeys: You can register for this workshop series at the Chicago Park District website.

Our Next Workshop: The Art Ensemble of Chicago

5/12/2014

You're invited to come to our next Chicago Heroes & Arts Adventures workshop --

Monday, May 12 (6:00-7:15, 7:30-8:30 p.m.)

Mozart Park Fieldhouse
2036 N. Avers Ave.
Chicago, IL 60647

all ages, free & open to the public

During our next workshop we focus on the Art Ensemble of Chicago. We will:

Listen to and talk about music by that legendary musical group;
Talk about how the AEC connects with other people and things (e.g. examples of its influences and who it has influenced; how it pertains other musical ensembles such as the Sun Ra Arkestra and the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians);
Talk about examples of AEC members' other artistic projects (such as Roscoe Mitchell's Nonaah and Lester Bowie's Brass Fantasy);
Make music with voice, percussion and other instruments.

Location: Mozart Park is in Chicago's Logan Square neighborhood. It's on the north side of Armitage Ave. -- several blocks east of Pulaski Rd., just south of Dickens and Shakespeare Streets. Our workshop series happens in the room to the left of fieldhouse lobby; some workshop sessions may happen outside in the park, weather permitting.

Transportation & parking: Mozart Park can be reached by public transportation (such as the #73 Armitage Ave. bus, and not far from the Logan Square and Western Ave. stations on the CTA's blue line. Mozart Park has a parking lot on Armitage, east of Avers.

Registering for Chicago Heroes & Arts Journeys: You can register for this workshop series at the Chicago Park District website.

Additional info: You can contact us by clicking here (if you have questions about this workshop or to RSVP). Click here to find out more about the Chicago Heroes & Arts Journeys workshop series.

Links:

Our Next Workshop: László Moholy-Nagy & Mies van der Rohe

5/4/2014

You're invited to come to our next Chicago Heroes & Arts Adventures workshop --

Monday, May 5 (6:00-7:15, 7:30-8:30 p.m.)

Mozart Park Fieldhouse
2036 N. Avers Ave.
Chicago, IL 60624

all ages, free & open to the public

During our next workshop we will focus on the lives and legacies of László Moholy-Nagy and Mies van der Rohe. Participants will create artworks and write poetry inspired by those two geniuses who have indelibly influenced architecture and design in Chicago and around the world.

Untitled (Chicago, 1943)
by László Moholy-Nagy

Mies van der Rohe with a model
of the Farnsworth House

Location: Mozart Park is in Chicago's Logan Square neighborhood. It's on the north side of Armitage Ave. -- several blocks east of Pulaski Rd., just south of Dickens and Shakespeare Streets. Our workshop series happens in the room to the left of fieldhouse lobby; some workshop sessions may happen outside in the park, weather permitting.

Transportation & parking: Mozart Park can be reached by public transportation (such as the #73 Armitage Ave. bus, and not far from the Logan Square and Western Ave. stations on the CTA's blue line. Mozart Park has a parking lot on Armitage, east of Avers.

Registering for Chicago Heroes & Arts Journeys: You can register for this workshop series at the Chicago Park District website.

Additional info: You can contact us by clicking here (if you have questions about this workshop or to RSVP). Click here to find out more about the Chicago Heroes & Arts Journeys workshop series.

above: László Moholy-Nagy's
Diagram of Finnegans Wake

Links:

Carl Sandburg-Inspired Arts Workshop at Mozart Park

4/28/2014

You're invited to come to our next Chicago Heroes & Arts Adventures workshop --

Monday, April 28 (6:00-7:15, 7:30-8:30 p.m.)

Mozart Park Fieldhouse
2036 N. Avers Ave.
Chicago, IL 60624

all ages, free & open to the public

During this workshop we will leverage the work of Carl Sandburg to highlight Chicago as a heroic historical presence, celebrated as a sufficiently significant subject for poetry and other arts created by Sandburg and others.

We’ll spend the first part of the workshop reading and discussing Sandburg's poem "Chicago," as well as poems by workshop participants. Then we’ll talk about common and unique characteristics of Chicago and the works interpreting it, and end with a creative exercise to process our own views that feelings about the city. Participants will be invited to use poetic forms such as haiku, limericks, short ballads, sonnets . . . whatever may catch people’s fancies. Artists may use of media of their choosing (which they must needs also provide) to express their views and impressions of Chicago. This workshop is facilitated by Wayne Allen Jones.

Location: Mozart Park is in Chicago's Logan Square neighborhood. It's on the north side of Armitage Ave. -- several blocks east of Pulaski Rd., just south of Dickens and Shakespeare Streets. Our workshop series happens in the room to the left of fieldhouse lobby; some workshop sessions may happen outside in the park, weather permitting.

Transportation & parking: Mozart Park can be reached by public transportation (such as the #73 Armitage Ave. bus, and not far from the Logan Square and Western Ave. stations on the CTA's blue line. Mozart Park has a parking lot on Armitage, east of Avers.

Registering for Chicago Heroes & Arts Journeys: You can register for this workshop series at the Chicago Park District website.

Additional info: You can contact us by clicking here (if you have questions about this workshop or to RSVP). Click here to find out more about the Chicago Heroes & Arts Journeys workshop series.

Links:

Our Next Arts Workshop: Katherine Dunham & Jean Baptiste Point du Sable

4/20/2014

You're invited to come to our next Chicago Heroes & Arts Adventures workshop --

Monday, April 21 (6:00-7:15, 7:30-8:30 p.m.)

Mozart Park Fieldhouse
2036 N. Avers Ave.
Chicago, IL 60624

all ages, free & open to the public

During our next workshop we will focus on the lives and legacies of Katherine Dunham and Jean Baptiste Point Du Sable. Participants will create graphic scores and write poetry inspired by those important individuals.

Location: Mozart Park is in Chicago's Logan Square neighborhood. It's on the north side of Armitage Ave. -- several blocks east of Pulaski Rd., just south of Dickens and Shakespeare Streets. Our workshop series happens in the room to the left of fieldhouse lobby; some workshop sessions may happen outside in the park, weather permitting.

Transportation & parking: Mozart Park can be reached by public transportation (such as the #73 Armitage Ave. bus, and not far from the Logan Square and Western Ave. stations on the CTA's blue line. Mozart Park has a parking lot on Armitage, east of Avers.

Registering for Chicago Heroes & Arts Journeys: You can register for this workshop series at the Chicago Park District website.

Additional info: You can contact us by clicking here (if you have questions about this workshop or to RSVP). Click here to find out more about the Chicago Heroes & Arts Journeys workshop series.

Links:

"The Black Arts Movement: Let Me Count the Ways" chapter from Visionary Women Writers of Chicago's Black Arts Movement by Carmen L. Phelps

Katherine Dunham: My Love of Dance (Visionary Project interview

Our Next Arts Workshop: Lisel Mueller, Penelope Rosemont & Franklin Rosemont

4/12/2014

You're invited to come to our next Chicago Heroes & Arts Adventures workshop --

Monday, April 14 (6:00-7:15, 7:30-8:30 p.m.)

Mozart Park Fieldhouse
2036 N. Avers Ave.
Chicago, IL 60624

all ages, free & open to the public

During our next workshop we will focus on the visual art and writings of Lisel Mueller, Penelope Rosemont, and Franklin Rosemont. We will:

Learn about the work and lives of those three Chicago-based individuals;
Listen to Penelope Rosemont talk about some of her experiences writing and creating art;
Read and discuss "Monet Refuses the Operation" by Lisel Mueller, a passage from Dreams & Everyday Life by Penelope Rosemont, and "ON THE ROAD: From Maywood Rhapsodism to City Lights in San Francisco and Armitage Avenue Transcendentalists" by Franklin Rosemont; and
Create works of writing and visual art inspired by those three individuals, including exquisite corpses.

Location: Mozart Park is in Chicago's Logan Square neighborhood. It's on the north side of Armitage Ave. -- several blocks east of Pulaski Rd., just south of Dickens and Shakespeare Streets. Our workshop series happens in the room to the left of fieldhouse lobby; some workshop sessions may happen outside in the park, weather permitting.

Transportation & parking: Mozart Park can be reached by public transportation (such as the #73 Armitage Ave. bus, and not far from the Logan Square and Western Ave. stations on the CTA's blue line. Mozart Park has a parking lot on Armitage, east of Avers.

Registering for Chicago Heroes & Arts Journeys: You can register for this workshop series at the Chicago Park District website.

Additional info: You can contact us by clicking here (if you have questions about this workshop or to RSVP). Click here to find out more about the Chicago Heroes & Arts Journeys workshop series.

Links:

Surrealism: Here & Now -- review by Janina Ciezadlo

Carlos Cortez-Inspired Arts Workshop at Mozart Park

4/1/2014

You're invited to come to our next Chicago Heroes & Arts Adventures workshop --

Monday, April 7 (6:00-7:15, 7:30-8:30 p.m.)

Mozart Park Fieldhouse
2036 N. Avers Ave.
Chicago, IL 60624

all ages, free & open to the public

We will look at the graphic work of Chicagoan Carlos Cortez, the Mexican/German/American poet, artist and labor activist. Cortez made prints following the tradition of the Mexican printmaker Posada, honoring his International Workers of the World fellows, Lucy Parsons (activist wife of Albert Parsons, the Haymarket Martyr) and others.

He supported, as a member of the Board of Directors, one of the oldest publishing companies in Chicago: the Charles Kerr Press. He was also involved with members of the Chicago Surrealist Movement. We will look at his art, his influences and learn some of the fundamental printmaking techniques he used to produce his images.

Location: Mozart Park is on Armitage Avenue in Logan Square -- several blocks east of Pulaski Road, just south of Dickens and Shakespeare Streets.

Contact us by clicking here -- if you have questions about this workshop or to RSVP. Thanks!

Links:

Nelson Algren-Inspired Arts Workshop at Mozart Park

3/28/2014

You are invited to come to our next Chicago Heroes & Arts Adventures workshop --

Monday, March 31 (6:00-7:15, 7:30-8:30 p.m.)

Mozart Park Fieldhouse
2036 N. Avers Ave.
Chicago, IL 60624

all ages, free & open to the public

During this workshop, inspired by the great Chicago writer Nelson Algren, participants will:

Learn more about Algren's work and legacy;
Read passages from Algren's poetry and prose, and several letters from Simone de Beauvoir to Algren;
Watch and discuss several video clips: part of Studs Terkel's 1975 interview with Algren; a clip from The Road Is Nothing, the End Is All; and Willem DeFoe reading "The Lightless Room," a short story by Algren; and
Creatively explore Algren's work through creative writing and visual art.

Location: Mozart Park is on Armitage Avenue in Logan Square -- several blocks east of Pulaski Road, just south of Dickens and Shakespeare Streets. There is street parking by Mozart Park, and a parking lot is on the east side of Avers.

Please contact us by clicking here -- if you have questions about this workshop and/or if you would like to RSVP. Thanks!

Links:

Our Next Arts Workshop: Ed Roberson & Sun Ra

2/18/2014

You're invited to our next Chicago Heroes & Arts Adventures workshop --

Monday, February 24th (6:00-7:15, 7:30-8:30 p.m.)

Mozart Park Fieldhouse
2036 N. Avers Ave.
Chicago, IL 60624

all ages, free & open to the public

During this next workshop, we will focus on the work and legacies of Ed Roberson and Sun Ra. Ed Roberson is an amazing Chicago-based poet, and Sun Ra is a pioneering instrumentalist, composer and bandleader whose dynamic vision has exploded conceptions of music, space and identity. We are delighted that Ed will be joining us at the workshop.

After growing up in Birmingham, Sun Ra moved to Chicago where he developed key aspects of his musical approach, including his iconic Egyptology-suffused space persona. Sun Ra later lived in Montreal, New York City, and Philadelphia...but Chicago and Sun Ra have a special connection.

This workshop will include the following:

Ed Roberson will read a selection of his poetry.
We will discuss one or two of Ed's poems.
We will listen to several songs by Sun Ra and his Arkestra.
We will write poetry and create visual art inspired by Ed Roberson and Sun Ra.

Location: Mozart Park is on Armitage Avenue in Logan Square -- several blocks east of Pulaski Road, just south of Dickens and Shakespeare Streets.

Please contact us by clicking here -- if you have questions about this workshop and/or if you would like to RSVP. Thanks!

Links: